Now that I’m 34 weeks and getting closer and closer to “baby day,” I’ve started estimating what I think my total weight gain will be with the pregnancy. And, I’ll be honest, I haven’t been particularly thrilled with the number I’ve been coming up with!

See the belly? It’s getting quite large! And I had to stand reeeeaaaally funny in order to be able to see my feet!

At my 34-week appointment yesterday when the nurse had me stand on the scale, I did what I do at every single appointment: frantically tried to remember what my weight was at the last appointment so I could calculate what I’d gained.

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As I stepped down, I did the math and came up with a 7 pound weight gain. In two weeks. I won’t lie, I was absolutely mortified. When the nurse left the room, I started telling Mr. H how terrible I felt, and how I thought I had done really well over the past couple of weeks. I had been expecting a 2-4 pound weight gain, as I seem to gain around 3-4 pounds every 2 weeks. I promptly started crying.

I was too embarrassed to ask my midwife if my weight gain was out of control. Partly because I assumed if there was a problem, she would tell me. And partly because I didn’t want to hear the answer in case she told me that I was gaining weight far too rapidly. So I put on a cheery face, had a great appointment where we learned that Baby H is still positioned head down, and with a healthy, happy heartbeat. And, that I was measuring right on track with a 34 cm fundal height.

At the end of the appointment, she handed back my little card that tracks all of my pregnancy stats (weight gain, blood pressure, etc). After we said our thank you’s and goodbyes, Mr. H and I looked at the card. The weight I had been using as my weight from the last appointment was actually from a month ago! Instead of gaining 7 pounds in the past 2 weeks, I had gained 4 pounds. While still a little higher than I would have liked, needless to say I was a bit relieved.

This helped me gain a lot of perspective. I am probably going to go well over what I had “hoped” I would gain with the pregnancy. At 34 weeks, I have gained about 36 pounds. My target was to stay at 40 pounds or under. With 6 weeks left to go and my average gain being 2 pounds a week, I could come quite close to the 50 pound mark.

But I know that I just have to be ok with that. As long as I am eating healthy and keeping active, I am doing what I need to do. I am still feeling great these days: no heartburn, my wedding rings still fit the same as they did pre-pregnancy and I have a lot of energy. With the exception of really uncomfortable sleep, Baby H and I are doing quite well! The number on the scale is just going to be whatever it is.

Are you trying to “guess” what your total pregnancy weight gain will be? Or are you being relaxed and easy going about the number on the scale?